Chinese Students Competition (Finished: please choose your favourite)

I, Britt the Writer, am holding a competition for all of my students that I teach here in China. The competition? They must create a character for the NeS. I will select the best from each class and then post up the profiles of the best characters for the Writers of the NeS to judge which is best. The prize is that that character will be an important or main character for the NeS!

There will need to be two of them, for each major age group; Junior and Senior.

I will announce the class winner every night after classes and keep students up-to-date on who is winning!

Note for the Writers: Remember, these are school kids so be nice!

Update: All entries are now listed. Just choose the character you find the most interesting or feel would work for the NeS. No need to judge the English level, I did that already.

Clothing: Black and white school uniform.Jewellery: Ring on his left hand, bracelet on his left wrist.Weapons: None.Magic Items: Magical book.Minor Accessories: None.Vehicles: Can ride in clouds (with clouds he can take other people).

Talents: Magical powers, especially with ice. Can also fly, with or without the clouds.

Personality: Very clever, good, brave.Voice: "Special" (Britt: I would guess this means a unique kind of voice, probably very deliberate and likely British by Western ideas).Sexuality: Straight.Ambition: Wants to be a great king.

GEARClothing: Jacket and jeansJewellery: None.Weapons: Has a small knife.Magic Items: Magical watch.

SKILLSMagic: Knows everyone's hearts (Britt: desires; possibly using the watch).Talents: He can speak many languages.
CHARACTERFull Name: Frank Smith.Personality: Outgoing and friendly.Voice: He sounds nice.Sexuality: Gay.Ambition: He wants to be a great policeman.

Britt, can you please provide which standards you would like the judges to base their decisions on (presumably including the rules you set for your students) so that we may be as fair as possible? Also, a date for when you would like us to judge by would be good. Background information would be good as well: how old your students are, at what equivalent age level do they know their English, that sort of thing. More information, please!

I look forward to this and will certainly judge myself when all the entries are up! I'd like to call as many current and former writers to this so they may give it a shot as well.

It's reeeeeeeally not that complicated or formal. The level of English isn't an issue for the NeS Writers, I have to type the bloody things up and often wind up editing bits here and there anyway. The level of English is the part I judge when selecting the best for the class. The only criteria for judging is whether you like the character or not; simple. Which characters are the most interesting/fun for the NeS. As for age groups, Juniors and Seniors; I assumed it was like American schools. Juniors are around 11-16 and Seniors are around 16-18.

It can also refer to junior high school and [regular] high school, where the ages/grades are 11-14/6th-8th and 14-18/9th-12th, respectively. Further complicating things is that in some areas junior high can refer to 7th-9th instead of 6th-8th.

So, that was probably far more information than you really cared to know, but... it amused me.

GEARClothing/Armour: No clothing.Jewellery: No jewellery.Weapons: Only weapons are his claws and teeth.Magic Items: None.Vehicles: None.

SKILLSMagic: He can create the traditional elements, earth, fire, water and air, using his mouth.Talents: He is very strong and he can fight really well. His skin is the strongest substance on Earth.

CHARACTERName: Long XiangPersonality: He is arrogant but to his lover he is very caring and affectionate.Voice: He speaks in dragon tongue.Sexuality: Straight.Ambition: He is the strongest dragon but he doesn't want to be a king of dragons, he just wants to find and live with his lover.

Submission for: Xi'an High School, Senior 2, Class 2

Written by: Ezio, Zhou Ziling

Character name: Gamma Pans

BODYGender: MaleAge: 22Species: X-Krypton from SaturnHeight: TallPhysical Description: He has a giant body, but has very thin legs. His hands are small and he has long nails.Colouration: His eyes are orange and has grey hair. His skin is completely black.

GEARClothing/Armour: He is coated in a mercury-like metal as clothing.Jewellery: A ring on his right finger made of uranium.Weapons: A rifle of neutrino and a laser sword.Magic Items: A magic necklace of thunder.Other Accessories: He has a helmet.Vehicles: None.

SKILLSMagic: He can cure people with the power of light.Talents: Socialising and building things.

Submission for: Xi'an High School, Senior 2, Class 3

Written by: Joe

Character name: Green

BODYGender: FemaleAge: 1900Species: Chinese human (but supernatural being)Height: ShortPhysical Description: She looks much younger than her age, just like a young girl. She has long straight hair and she looks very cute.Colouration: Her hair is coloured green, her eyes are also green.

GEARClothing/Armour: She wears a white dress with green bamboo pattern and white boots with gold cloud pattern. She has a long, green hair ribbon.Jewellery: None.Weapons: A long willow twig.Magic Items: None.Other Accessories: None.Vehicles: She has two pet phoenixes.

SKILLSMagic: She can make plants grow and use them to attack people. With plants she can also read people's minds.Talents: None.

CHARACTERName: Green.Personality: Kind and gentle to her friends but grim towards her enemies.Voice: She cannot speak.Sexuality: Lesbian.Ambition: Make the world become green, everywhere.

SKILLSMagic: He can do anything, however he can only perform so long as there is a "deal", a contract. He must do whatever the contract requests of him and those that sign the contract must also obey the contract.Talents: He can do anything, see above.

Submission for: Xi'an High School, Senior 1, Class 6

BODYGender: FemaleAge: 16Species: Robot (though she appears human).Height: UnknownPhysical Description: She is a cute girl.Colouration: She has long pink hair.

GEARClothing/Armour: She wears a white dress and has no shoes.Jewellery: In her forehead she has a star. With this star she can use magic to glamour people.Weapons: Nothing.Magic Items: None.Other Accessories: None.Vehicles: None.

1. Zheng Ruirong's Unnamed character with the pact magic thing. That could provide some very interesting hooks, especially insofar as either a rival to Hell/Mr Eight/Al Ciao/Jim Seven, or as a subordinate.

2. Zhang Yan's Unnamed character. Vampire angel? Brilliant! Another NeSferatu that Nyneve knew nothing about! Tie in with the angels already in the story, High Imp nee Angel and Seraphim, and who knows what terror we can unleash, bwahahahahaha!

Not sure which of those I like better, but 3rd, behind them, is the guy I mentioned in my previous post, the one who can read people's hearts.

I also find Gamma Pans a bit intrigueing, as well as Mr D's name and description, as previously stated.

Submission for XunDe Middle School: Junior 1, Class 7

Written by: Unknown, Chinese writing. Will fill in if needed.

Character Name: No Name.

BODYAge: 13Gender: MaleRace: ZombieHeight: ShortPhysical Description: He is very ugly, has short hair and wears big, round glasses and a big nose. (Britt: possibly a nerd-character)Colouration: He has red hair.

Submission for XunDe Middle School: Junior 1, Class 5

Written by: Emily

Character name: Unknown

BODYGender: FemaleAge: 15Species: FairyHeight: 1 metrePhysical Description: She is very beautiful, has long wavy blonde hair and has two thin, big wings (for her height). She has long elf-like ears.Colouration: Blue eyes, white skin.

GEARClothing/Armour: She wears a beautiful blue dress, but she doesn't wear shoes. She has a hat with flowers in it.Jewellery: None.Weapons: Nothing.Magic Items: None.Other Accessories: None.Vehicles: None.

I had hoped to do a video, and in the interest of time and other factors, I'll have to just do a written response instead.

First, to all the students, thank you! All the ideas had something to offer, and they could all be a part of the story.

Among the junior students, if I had to pick just one, I would pick Frank. A name, a physical description, an ambition... these all go help a lot to identify him as someone a reader can understand. Also, the details are both believable and memorable, which make both reading and writing such a character more fun. Why does he want to be a great policeman? What does he do to help himself become a great policeman? Where did he get the watch from? How does seeing into the hearts of others make him feel? Is living as a gay man difficult for him? These are all great questions that a story can explore. Mr. D. would be a second choice for me for similar reasons.

Among the senior students, if I had to pick just one, I would pick Long Xiang. Besides the reasons given for the junior students, I also feel this sort of character fits well within the story's world, and its the sort of character not yet really seen. The dealer, Gamma Pans, Ada, LL, and the robot cloud-talking girl were all close seconds since they shared many of the same qualities, and it was a difficult decision to have to pick just one as the 'best' of them.

As my three favorite characters still are, for reasons previously listed, the two unnamed characters and Frank Smith, I will second Geb's nomination for Frank Smith from the junior class.

From the senior class, Long Xiang and Gamma Pans and the others are well described and detailed, which is good. I still like the unnamed pact-magic guy; but Geb has a point about using something not yet seen in the NeS world.

I don't really even know. Among the seniors, it'd be one of those three... Just so we don't have a split-decision, I'll second Long Xiang too.

I would vote for Mr D. for juniors, but I am biased on grounds of the English talent involved, and for seniors I would actually choose Green. My reasoning for Green is that she would be interesting and entertaining because she can't speak. The Chinese dragon would be very cool but I'd be concerned about how he could play a "major" role in the NeS cast as he's like... a lot bigger than any of them.

I am a fan of Zheng Ruirong's contract character. GREAT concept. I can imagine story lines involving him using or attempting to use others for his goals, but he must be clever about it, because he is not capable of anything without another individual to "sign off" on it. His magic is limited perfectly, in that he has incredible power but must act in a way that will encourage others to sign the contract. Another way this could be good is to add a "magic pen" that must be used to sign the contract, and judges those who sign. It will not allow contracts to bind unless the signers are strong willed, and truly believe that they are benefiting from the contract. Either the pen becomes impossible to use in some way (ie gets very heavy, or refuses to put down ink), or the pen works, but there is somehow no "sealing" of the contract.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Lassev: I guess there was something captivating in savagery, because I liked it.